Yesterday morning, just before 9am a 7.6 earth quake hit Costa Rica. The epicenter was near Nicoya in the northern pacific province of Costa Rica, about 50 miles from where we live, as the bird flies. We were just getting ready to go to the beach for our Sabbath day when it hit and boy did it shake! Especially our old wood house that is built on a stilt foundation. We ran outside and waited for the 45 second long tremor to stop. Luckily we had no damage to person or property so we went to listen to the news at a neighbor’s house knowing that the coastal areas were most likely going to have a tsunami alert. Luckily no tsunami followed and the alert was lifted after about 30 min.
Although this was a sizable earthquake, the largest in 50 years, there was minimal damage with 3 deaths and very few collapsed buildings. At this point there is no reported damage to any of the Free Methodist churches in Costa Rica. Our friend’s church in Nosara did sustain some damage and a member of the church’s home collapsed, luckily no one was hurt.
Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray, especially for our pastor friends in Nosara and Johan and his family as they have been displaced from their home.
Pura Vida, Leon Family
More info:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-09-06/costa-rica-earthquake/57628602/1?csp=34news